InformationWeek

d Chi went online recently to Nike.com to find and compare information on sunglasses, with the goal of buying a pair. Frustrated by a poorly designed site that didn't provide the information he wanted, he gave up.

Chi is more than a disgruntled consumer. He's also a research scientist at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center. Based on his work there, he knows his experience is common. "All Nike.com does is market its brand; it tells you nothing about the products it has, which is the opposite of what consumers want," he says, adding that many Web sites do the same thing.

A study by Information Resources Inc. and McCusker and Associates confirms the gap between customers' expectations and experiences online. What they want is simplicity: 74% of 7,900 shoppers polled want a place to give feedback; half sought coupons, free samples, or special offers. But only 38% of sites ask for feedback, and just 20% give samples or coupons.

Chi and other researchers are designing software that would test consumer satisfaction with Web sites without relying on human testers. Their project, called Information Scent, is based on the idea that people look for information in the same way that animals forage for food--hot on the trail of a particular thing. The group is assessing the strategies consumers use to look for information and how those strategies change based on information cues on the page, Chi says.

Applying principles of cognitive psychology theory, researchers have monitored online activity for completing online tasks, then modeled that behavior. Their goal is to automate Web-site tests, which would be quicker and less expensive than current methods that assign focus groups a specific objective, then recommend design changes based on the group's ability to complete the task. What now costs tens of thousands of dollars could cost as much as 90% less.

Technology developed at the Xerox division could be commercialized, licensed, or spun out as a private company. The group plans to release a beta product by the end of summer.